Belryn
Belryn, traditionally named Baile Átha Rí Luatha, and commonly named the City of the Grey Kings, City of Phoenixes and Lir, is the largest city in the Athrugadhi Empire, and perhaps Ingos Tenum. It covers roughly 605.2 square miles of both land and sea, and is separated into two large boroughs. These are: Old Belryn, and New Belryn. In the days leading up to the Flight of the Firebird, New Belryn was a beacon of technological progression on Ingos, and was the leading contributor in Ariilyth's race to the space age, heavily romanticising the new Athrugadhi idea of civilisation. The city was home to Ariilyth's leading aerospace manufacturers, which received significant funding and PR endorsements from the governments both local and national. However, in what is seen as tragically ironic, the city's great success in this endeavour bled half of it dry, as many of its populace had piled into the transports bound for Athrugadh and the sprawling young city of Ardor. This left Belryn proportionally underpopulated, continuing to survive only thanks to its traditionalist Arohgardian population and the heavy tourist income generated from the old city, leaving the new city to fade into the dark, and wallow with crime. Belryn is the capital of Arohgard, and the Kingdom of Ariilyth. The city's administrative and legal proceedings are overseen by Governor Teagan from the Tower of the Ashes, while General Berach Mac Liam holds its military muscle from the Fort Arthur Military Complex, both located at the northern end of the New city. History Origin Belryn traces its origins all the way back to 1271 BCE, when the vision-locked ashen sorcerer-warrior: Riain of Lir, followed the trial of a golden phoenix prior to the destruction of his tribe of Lir. Only hours after evacuating his people, his tribe was swallowed in the ashes by the coalition of warrior tribes: Cré-umha; Corrán; Casúr and Beithíoch, who continued to track and give chase to Riain. Endowed by the mesmerising flight-bound light above him, Riain carried his hunted wayfarer disciples after it through a perilous stretch of grey dune beneath 30 scorching suns, feeding life to the predators around them, and the pursuers behind, lusting for the final death knell of Lir. Never releasing his gaze from their aerial deliverer, Riain took his people through the Valley of Toradh where the bird had vanished. Having been abandoned by the lightly bird in the soothingly grim night, Riain's people prepared themselves for death. Yet, as they sharpened their blades and axes, Riain laboured the charcoal stone, the waning ash, and his innermost flame. He toiled with his every sliver of mystical fibre, his sweat became liquid steel, and intermarried with the ash, before solidifying. The resulting metal sizzled and smoked with every hammer, until Riain had created a grandiose blade. He named it Gríobhtine. When the massive host of man and beast swarmed into the valley, Riain lit the sword ablaze to light the dark the enemy took as theirs, and to set ablaze the hearts of Lir to see beyond the formless. With his sword's ember, Riain brought his company to a narrow corridor where the mountains barely kissed, and there he and his loyal Laochra made their victorious final stand to rout the pillagers and avenge their home. After the battle, Riain, bloody and tired, staggered out from the grey field and black plateau, and into to an endless, rich, mountainous expanse abundant before a vast stretching coast - a shade of grass never before seen by the Arohgardians where the fluorescent bird fluttered. Riain here made his legendary run, beaking at high speed across the field, until finally, he collapsed in fatigue, but he would not kneel. He planted his inflamed blade in the grass, which glowed beauteous colours in the reflective light of the rising sun; colours alien to the human eye, and taking the form of a 20 petalled flower. Riain witnessed this and wept, for here his tribe would endure, and it was good. Valley_of_Toradh.png|The Valley of Toradh Belryn_foundation.png|Belryn's foundation Early Development After the Battle of Toradh Valley, Riain - whose unlikely victory had astounded many who witnessed, spared the lives of his war prisoners from the opposing tribes, and the seven foot tall warrior who stood above with the gilded phoenix on his shoulder, offered them welcoming passage into the nascent land beyond the valley, as kin of his own. The offer was received with merriment from many, while the rest did not live to contest. The clan of Lir had now obtained a plentiful hand of settlers for their new home. The untapped resources abundant in the area soon were plucked ripe, giving the valley behind its name: Toradh, which means fruit in Altachtic. Within their reach were mountains rich with gold and ore; sunkissed woods with hardy timber and hide, salted waters with fish to feed a fully filled family's fund; and with the valley so close in sight: ashen fields, fertile and contested by neither man nor monster. The Arohgardians of Lir built warships to guard their treasured coast, and constructed fortresses across the valley, while flaunting their superior metallurgy to make a muscle show of military strength. Riain tried and tested his technological dominance, waging war upon those tribes beyond the valley, and offering the survivors the milk of his triumph. His city grew with such a pace unseen for his time. Over the course of time, the Arohgardian tribes would knot into its ropes, forming the Kingdom of Arohgard with the crowning of their King. Riain knelt at last, and so was crowned the Grey King of Lir - Ríalir Luatha in his fortress of Dún i Ríchathaoir Luatha. The city was named Baile Átha Rí Luatha in his honour, and later in his two century spanning lifetime alone, his city would become the founding spark of Ariilyth, and the seat of the largest Empire to ever stretch Rialuath. Architecture The old city in particular is especially iconic for its High Arohgardian style of architecture, which originated in Baile Átha Rí Luatha, and is characterised by piers with groups of colonettes, pinnacles, gables, catherine windows, and openings broken into many different lancet-shaped sections. It came about during the Second Phoenix Empire in the High to Late Middle Ages. The design is an evolution of the Early Arohgardian architectural style inherited by the First Phoenix Empire, which was inspired by the spiry plateaus often found in Arohgard. The High Arohgardian architects, aspirated by a love of art and culture, took the grandfather design, and weaved it into a beauteous exhibition without sacrificing its roots, to sing of the enlightened glory of the Arohgardian Laochra in the chorus of stone. High Arohgardian would go on to become a popular style of architecture outside of Ariilyth, though one typically associated more with religion than the Arohgardian people to foreigners; with it being the chief style of both Solasism, and Tharminism. File:Dun.png|Caisleán na Obsaidian - an example of Early Arohgardian architecture File:High_dun.png|High Dún - an example of High Arohgardian architecture File:Twin_spires.png|The portrayed spires of Arohgard File:20_stuff_ok.png|Ríalir's 20 petalled flower is the chief inspiration used for Catherine windows Category:Ariilyth Category:Cities